The present invention is directed to a computerized method for matching paint on vehicles and a networked computer system for implementing the method.
Matching the original paint color on vehicles being repaired is an inexact process in which a person attempting to match the paint often must rely on trial and error processes by which the paint is matched. In spite of the availability of computerized color matching aids, the painter at a body shop often must ultimately resort to xe2x80x9ceyeballingxe2x80x9d the paint in order to achieve an acceptable match. This results in an inefficient process that can significantly affect labor cost in a typical body shop.
A number of methods have been devised to automate the process of paint matching. A typical automated method uses a device (e.g., a spectrophotometer) that measures certain qualities of the painted surface, such as reflectance at one or more wavelengths and at different angles, and automatically matches the measurements to those archived in a computer database in connection with paint formulas. In this method, the computer database is located at the repair facility. The paint formulas are then used to prepare a paint and the paint is compared to the original paint on the vehicle. If the paint matches, the area is painted. If not, the paint formula is adjusted manually by trial and error until a match is made. These processes are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,668,633 and 5,841,421. The difficulty in these processes is that there is no assurance that the new formulation is entered into the local body shop""s database, and no assurance that each computer database at each body shop will be updated. It is common in the automotive body repair industry to find most computer paint databases are not kept up-to-date. They are updated sporadically, and with limited feedback from the body shop to the manufacturer of the paint matching system.
Automobile paint color variability within the same nominal color is typically due to slight variations in color in the paint formulations used by the original equipment manufacturers (OEM). These variations may occur from one manufacturing location to another manufacturing location, or from one production run to another of a given color on the same vehicle model, or even during the course of a particular production run. Although these differences may be unnoticeable on separate vehicles, when they are present on adjacent body panels of the same vehicle, the differences can be visibly perceptible. These color variations make it difficult to attain excellent color matching in repair shops.
The present invention provides a system for matching paint color on a vehicle being repaired in which remote terminals located at a large number of repair shops transmit color readings and associated individual vehicle identification information to a central computer system. The central computer system includes a processor and a data storage device that contains a database of color data associated with particular vehicles and corresponding paint tinting information. After determining a recommended tinting formulation calculated to be a best known match to the measured color, the tinting formulation is transmitted to the remote terminal, and the repair shop formulates the paint and sprays the area to be repaired. Subsequently, the shop takes a color reading of the repaired area and transmits this second reading to the central computer system. The second reading is then processed to determine the accuracy of the recommended tinting formula, and correction data stored to be implemented in future tinting formula recommendations. In this manner the accuracy of the database is continually upgraded by means of large numbers of readings transmitted from the field.
The individual vehicle identification information may also be employed in the calculation of recommended tinting formulations, thereby improving the accuracy of the color match by taking into account variations in a manufacturing run of nominally the same color. By tracking trends in these variations in association with individual vehicle identification information, subsequent color matches can be made substantially more accurately for vehicles identified as having been part of the same manufacturing run.
The system of the present invention may optionally include an automated merit system for inducing repair shops to transmit color readings of completed jobs. This may entail a register for storing merit points for each repair shop and automatically adding merit points to the register for the shop each time it transmits a second color reading transmitted to the central computer for a particular vehicle. Accumulated merit points at certain levels may then be utilized as a basis to provide financial or other rewards to repair shops attaining target levels. Alternatively, the system could operate to register demerits for failure to transmit a second color reading with avoidance of predetermined demerit levels being a condition for continuing as an authorized member of the color matching system.
Thus it can be seen that an object of at least some aspects of the present invention involves providing a method and system for color matching vehicle paint colors that account for trends in colors over a production sequence. It is an object of other aspects of the present invention to provide a color matching method and system that updates automatically based on a large amount of feedback from a large number of sources, thereby yielding a highly accurate system.
The central computer system comprises a processor; one or more input ports for receiving scanned paint data and individual vehicle identifying information; an output port or device for communicating information to one of an output device, a remote terminal and/or a second computer; a storage means in which a database is stored in which paint formulations are stored in connection with vehicle identifying information for specific vehicles; software for implementing a process that compares vehicle identifying information received through said one or more input ports to vehicle identifying information stored in the database and determines a best match paint formulation based upon the comparison.
The system also includes a plurality of remote terminals for communicating to the central computer vehicle identification data and color data, such as reflectance data obtained from the surface of the vehicle being repaired. Each remote terminal may include a processor, one or more input ports for receiving color data and vehicle identifying data, an output port or device such as a modem for communicating information to the central computer system. Although inclusion of data storage means in association with the remote terminal is not precluded, it is an advantage of the present invention that the remote terminals need not be provided with substantial data storage or data processing capacity as is required for prior art systems that maintain a color matching database at each repair shop. Appropriate software may be included with the remote terminal for reading the data and transmitting it digitally to the central computer.
The system can also include software for implementing additional processes. For instance a process can be provided for collecting and analyzing physical measurements taken from a repaired surface of the vehicle and determining whether a given paint match was accurate. The system can include statistical processes for analyzing the accuracy of the paint match and for identifying paint measurements that indicate errors or malfunctions in obtaining the paint measurements at the remote location and/or errors in the formulation of the paint by the computer.
A computer-implemented method for matching paint is also provided that includes the steps of obtaining vehicle identifying information and paint measurements from a vehicle to be repaired and determining a best match paint formulation based at least partially on the vehicle identifying number of the vehicle to be repaired. The determination of a best match paint formulation can be made by comparison with, and in reference to, data stored in a central database that contains vehicle identifying information stored in connection with paint formulas and/or physical measurements taken from other repairs. Once the vehicle is repaired, paint measurements from the repair can be obtained and compared to the initial paint measurements. The information obtained from the scans can then be stored in the database to aid in prediction of paint formulations based upon the vehicle identifying information of the vehicle to be matched by increasing the number of data points in the central database.
The regular updating of the database provides each user at each remote location the benefit of the data obtained by matches determined for other users. A further advantage is that centralized management of color matching data is made possible, thereby eliminating the need to periodically update data on personal computers at a large number of repair shops. This also results in better control of the integrity and security of the data stored in the database.
It is another unique feature of this invention that it can be configured to provide for a color matching database that is continually being improved by feedback from a very large number of field locations. For example, for a given product line or brand of paint, virtually every use of the paint can be monitored for color accuracy and the color predicting algorithms improved in response thereto to yield continually improving accuracy. For a major product line of auto refinish paint with nation-wide or world-wide distribution, feedback can be expected from hundreds or thousands of repair shops, each typically handling several paint jobs daily. Data that is highly relevant statistically can be derived from such a system.